Clark's short jumper in the lane with eight-tenths of a second
left in overtime gave the Nuggets a much-needed 109-107 victory
over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

After a 12-point home loss to Dallas on Monday, in which usually
mild-mannered teammate Antonio McDyess was ejected for punching
a ball into the stands, Van Exel blasted some of his teammates
as "selfish," saying they have the approach of "get your money
and you're happy."

"(It was a) huge win for us," Van Exel said. "The bench played
well for us after Monday night. Every night, it's going to be
tough for us. We have to remember we're the Denver Nuggets."

Tonight he saw an unselfish effort with six players in double
figures. That group did not include Clark, who came off the
bench to collect eight points, nine rebounds, three blocks and
the biggest basket of the young season for Denver.

"This was important tonight for our team," Clark said. "We
needed to play together."

"It's great to win and those guys are excited but if the ball
bounces the other way, we're sitting here talking at 1-4,"
Nuggets coach Dan Issel said. "I didn't get too down when we
were 1-3 and I'm not ready to do cartwheels now that we're 2-3."

After Kevin Garnett's two free throws gave Minnesota a 107-107
tie with 22 seconds left, Clark took a pass on the left block,
dribbled toward the baseline, turned back into the lane and
threw in a jumper over 7-2 Rasho Nesterovic, who blocked eight
shots.

"It wasn't designed for me but I got it and I had to shoot it
because time was running out," said Clark, who came on when
McDyess' bad back acted up. "I'm just glad we came out on top."

"We were trying to get it to Raef (LaFrentz) but it's usually
the person that sets the pick that gets open and when Raef dove
to the block, Keon was open and he hit a tough shot," Issel
said.

The Timberwolves had one more chance but Terrell Brandon's shot
from the left corner was short as the horn sounded and LaFrentz
touched it.

"I thought our last shot was good good," Minnesota coach Flip
Saunders said. "One referee called it goaltending and the other
waved it off. He might have had a better look."

Voshon Lenard scored 20 points off the bench and LaFrentz added
19 and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets, who held a 54-14 edge in
bench points. Reserves George McCloud and Robert Pack added 16
and 10 points, respectively.

Kevin Garnett collected 26 points and 16 rebounds and Brandon
added 21 and eight assists for the Timberwolves, who had won
four of their last five visits to the Pepsi Center. The teams
have played three straight overtime games.

The fourth quarter began with Denver holding an 82-80 edge and
neither team led by more than three in the final period. A
jumper by Wally Szczerbiak, who scored 19 points, gave Minnesota
a 98-95 lead with 1:20 to go, but LaFrentz made a free throw 17
seconds later.

Szczerbiak had a shot blocked by Lenard, giving the Nuggets a
chance to tie. Clark snaked inside and kicked a pass out to
McCloud, who buried the tying jumper with 1.3 seconds to play.
Garnett missed a long jumper, sending the game to overtime.

In the extra session, there were three lead changes and three
ties. In the final 2:05, Clark and LaFrentz had go-ahead layups
that were answered each time by Garnett's free throws.

Van Exel had 15 points and nine assists and McDyess scored 11
points for the Nuggets, who shot 46 percent (42-of-92) from the
field but just 3-of-16 from behind the arc.

"Lots of guys stepped up tonight when we needed it," McCloud
said. "This is a huge confidence-builder for us."

Chauncey Billups scored 14 points and Nesterovic added 13 and 10
rebounds for the Wolves, who shot 47 percent (44-of-93) but had
13 turnovers that led to 21 points for Denver.